high school years, with permission from site supervisors, he would dig and survey local construction site areas, working side-by-side with Bay Area archaeologists like Chester and Linda King and Rob Edwards, who served as mentors. He also began conferring with graduate students of an archaeology class from San Jose State University, where he would eventually enroll as a history major thanks to the mentorship of Dr. Theodore "Ted" C. Hinckley of the History Department, who convinced Delgado's parents to send him to University and not the local community college. In his sophomore year, he shifted to San Francisco State University as a cooperative education student working with the National Park Service (NPS). He graduated with a B.A. in American history, and would later teach at this and three other universities. Career Delgado's career has spanned four decades, focused on history, archaeology, with an emphasis on maritime and naval subjects. During his career, he worked while earning his various degrees, starting with his graduation from High School, and subsequently earning his BA, MA and PhD while working. He began working professionally at a young age, working part-time in museums and as an archaeological field survey technician while in Junior High and High School, before joining the National Park Service as a historian. 1972–1976: Part-time museum curator at the New Almaden Museum (San Jose, California) and archaeological field surveyor 1976–1978: Part-time historic home curator at the Roberto-Sunol Adobe and the Winchester Mystery House (San Jose, California) and office assistant in the History Department at San Jose State University 1978–1991: Assistant Regional Historian, Park Historian for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Maritime Historian of the National Park Service (San Francisco, California and Washington, D.C.) 1991-2006: Executive Director, Vancouver Maritime Museum and Host, The Sea Hunters 2006–2010: Executive Director and President, Institute of Nautical Archaeology 2010–2017: Director of Maritime Heritage, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries 2017–Present: Senior Vice President, SEARCH, Inc. Historian Delgado first served for a year as the assistant to NPS Western Regional Historian Gordon S. Chappell, where he completed a series of National Register of Historic Places nominations for sites as diverse as U.S. Highway 1 on the Northern California coast, and the historic ships at San Francisco's Hyde Street Pier. Delgado remained with the NPS as the first Park Historian for Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) serving from 1979 to 1986. The park covered 35,000 acres